Increasingly, individuals wish to make payments for goods and services by using mobile devices. When doing so, these individuals can make payments by submitting personal payment information, such as credit card and personal information, or account information, and confirming payment of a particular amount. When an individual initiates payment, that individual typically must enter information identifying that individual, as well as a method of payment. This entry process can be time consuming and frustrating for the individual if required to be performed each time an individual wishes to purchase a good or service.
Some existing payment systems attempt to simplify this payment process for the user by storing a user's personal payment information at a central server location from which all items are purchased. This arrangement has the advantage that the user does not need to reenter his/her payment information for each purchase. However, these systems may not be attractive to some potential users due to concerns regarding potential security shortcomings. For example, a user may wish to not have a third party store his/her payment information, which may lead to data breaches, unauthorized charges, or other unintended consequences.
For these and other reasons, improvements are desirable.